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U.S. equities raced higher Tuesday morning, and held onto most of their gains after House Speaker John Boehner said there is still a gulf between President Obama and Republican lawmakers on resolving the fiscal cliff.

The Dow Jones industrial average pulled back slightly during Boehner's brief statement from the Capitol, but was still up triple digits. The 30-stock index gained 108 points to 13,278, led by Intel's 2.5% gain. Shortly after noon the S&P 500 was 13 points higher at 1,431 and the Nasdaq was up 41 points at 3,027.

While Boehner's remarks did little to suggest a deal is imminent, the market seems to be brushing off the possibility of a worst-case scenario where the lack of a deal hammers already-sluggish economic growth. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may be holding another key to Tuesday's advance, with the central bank widely expected to augment its already-running monetary stimulus packages by increasing its level of asset purchases.

In the airline sector, Delta Air Lines jumped 5.9% after announcing it will spend $360 million for a 49% stake of Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic. The transaction gives Delta a better channel into London, as the combined network will run nine daily nonstop flights between Heathrow Airport and New York-area airports JFK and Newark.

Winners outnumbered losers by a wide margin, but the dollar stores were among the groups in the red. Shares of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar Stores and Dollar General were all in the red after the latter reported earnings Tuesday morning.

Dollar General’s revenue and earnings topped estimates, but it lowered expectations for the fiscal fourth-quarter as executives warned of the impact from a changing promotional environment due to uncertainty among consumers. The retailer lost 5.6% Tuesday.